This book was made possible through countless hours visiting every winery in Georgia and the patience and time their owners, winemakers, and vineyard-and-tasting-room managers devoted to answering my questions and tasting their wines. Particularly valuable were my interviews with the early pioneers in the Georgia wine community to include Tom Slick, owner of Habersham Vineyards and Winery, Dr. Donald Panoz, founder of Château Élan, Patty Prouty, daughter of Dr. Maurice Rawlings, founder of Georgia Winery, and David Harris, the former owner of Blackstock Vineyards and Winery. Special recognition to Tom Slick, who patiently reviewed the post-Prohibition history once written for accuracy and clarity.
Special thanks to Parks Redwine, owner of the Atlanta Improvement Company, a wine importer, and a former wine writer for the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Parks’s old Georgia wine bottle collection and exceptional early knowledge were invaluable in capturing wine history and photos, particularly following Prohibition.
Thanks to Jane Garvey, another former wine writer for the Atlanta Journal Constitution and the resident Georgia senior wine writer, for her expertise in validating and locating vineyards and wineries and for her in-depth Georgia wine knowledge, all of which greatly facilitated my research efforts.
Thanks to Dr. Patrick J. Conner, director of University of Georgia’s muscadine-breeding program, for sharing his knowledge and answering questions related to muscadine history in Georgia. His numerous writings on muscadine grapes for UGA were valuable references for this book. University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences muscadine grape was a valuable reference, along with the UGA’s IFAS extension on muscadine grapes. The same is true for the Virginia work on grapevine diseases, Cornell University’s grape program, and the team at Penn State’s Cooperative Extension, whose sensory program proved invaluable to enhancing my aroma-and-fault detection skills.
There are several key experts whose writing immensely aided my research. Thomas Pinney’s, ‘A History of Wine in America: From the Beginnings to Prohibition,’ is a seminal masterpiece on American wine history. Jancis Robinson, Julia Harding, and José Vouillamoz’s, ‘Wine Grapes,’ was the key, go-to reference for validating grape-varietal dates to determine if such a grape grew in a certain time period. James C. Bonner’s, ‘A History of Georgia Agriculture 1732–1860,’ was the best guide available to piece together what was growing in Georgia prior to the Civil War. Finally, Ted Goldammer’s, ‘Grape Grower’s Handbook: A Complete Viticultural Guide for Wine Production,’ was a concise reference on grape pests and disease.
Thanks to MyTopo in Billings, Montana, for granting me permission to use their maps as the base map to showcase winery locations in Georgia. Much thanks to Bottoms Nursery and Ison’s Nursery and Vineyard for providing muscadine grape photos. Thanks to the Georgia Wine Producers for allowing me to join their growing organization as an associate member and gain insightful knowledge that I might not have been smart enough to ask for while writing this book.
Final recognition to my two longtime editors at Big Canoe’s Smoke Signals, Barbara Schneider and Anita Rosen, for their encouragement to write, thoughtful suggestions, and high standards. Barbara was invaluable in assisting with the overall chapter design for the book.